Living in today’s world can feel a bit same-y. Everyone follows the same trends, the same sort of music plays on the radio, and it’s rare for people to express their heritage.
Luckily, traditional dance forms are still going strong, giving us the opportunity to celebrate an important part of a country’s history.
Irish dancing is one of the most popular traditional styles of dance.
Just like the Irish language, and native sports like hurling and garlic football, Irish dance is an important part of the heritage and culture of Ireland.
It’s common for young children in Ireland to learn Irish dance at school or as an extracurricular activity. On special occasions, like St. Patrick’s day, locals come together and put on impressive Irish dancing performances for their neighbors.
There are many incredible Irish dance videos on YouTube, and this is perhaps one of the best.
The video was posted by Wild West Irish Tours, a company that offers tours to small groups of “people all over the world who always dreamed of coming to Ireland”.
You get the true Irish experience when you take a tour with Wild West Irish Tours – and sometimes, even a bit of dancing is involved.
This video features Laura Ganley of the Ganley Sisters, a pair of Irish sisters famous for their Irish barrel dancing.
Barrel dancing isn’t nationally recognized as a style of Irish dance, but it’s exactly how it sounds – dancers hop on top of a barrel and perform their Irish dance routine from there.
As a band starts to play a lively jig behind her, Laura begins to pull off some fancy footwork.
It’s clear that Laura has been dancing for almost as long as she’s been walking.
Her moves come naturally, and she hops, skips and taps in perfect time to the backing music. Even in flared jeans, she’s somehow able to showcase every lower-leg movement perfectly.
To start, Laura navigates her way across the floor. But it’s clear the wooden barrel behind her hasn’t been placed there by accident!
Towards the middle of the song, she jumps onto the barrel – and takes things up another notch.
The sounds of her shoes tapping on the wood adds another dimension to the backing music, and members of the small audience whoop in appreciation.
You’d think that dancing on a barrel would restrict you somewhat, but Laura has obviously practiced this routine hundreds of times.
She spins around, giving everyone a view of her footwork, somehow not falling off the small platform.
It’s easy to assume that Irish dancing is something most of us could master, but it’s actually incredibly challenging to get the moves right.
We can all hop up and down on the floor, but to move your legs at the right angles and tap your feet in time to the music is much harder than it seems!
If you’ve never seen Irish barrel dancing before, Laura’s dance is well worth a watch.
You can check out the full performance in the video below.
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